


Burdens of the past

by EveandJohnny



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Post Operation Pitfall, Pre-Movie: Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), So much angst, but also fluff and romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-28 03:27:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12597140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveandJohnny/pseuds/EveandJohnny
Summary: Mako was the last woman standing.





	Burdens of the past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [softjohn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/softjohn/gifts).



> My speculations on what happens between Pacific Rim and Uprising.

„Miss Mori?“ A Taiwanese lady, a little soft around the edges, approached Mako who sat in a deep black leather armchair. “Miss Shao wants to see you now.” Mako got up and bowed, then followed the secretary into a spacious office with futuristic looking chrome and leather furniture. At the far end stood a crescent desk and a swivel chair with a high backrest that looked out of a window spanning the entire width of the room. It granted a magnificent view over the East Side of Beijing. Mako straightened her skirt and waited for the swivel chair to turn.

“Miss Mori! I’m so glad to finally meet you.” Liwen Shao said when Mako came into view. She got up from the chair to reveal a tailored crimson dress that fitted her body without a fold and let her pale skin shine. It also matched her lipstick and nicely contrasted her sleek black hair.

“Miss Shao, the pleasure is all mine. I’m very honoured by your invitation.” In contrast to Liwen’s enthusiasm Mako was calm and reserved.

Liwen laughed and it sounded like bells ringing. “There’s no need to sound surprised. Nobody in this business is better than you are. The fact that you were raised by Stacker Pentecost himself combined with your talent for engineering and your natural curiosity destines you for the job.”

It has been years ago that praise for her person and her achievements had made Mako blush. Therefore she had heard it too often. So instead of this normal body reaction, Mako only inclined her head. But even this praise was not enough to make her smile.

Three years after Operation Pitfall, her life had been short on reasons to smile. In the year following, her schedule had been so packed with work that it hardly left her a day off, let alone time to sort through her feelings. The most urgent business had been securing funds for the PPDC and the Shatterdome in Hong Kong for at least a year so that the employees could safely find new jobs without having to worry about financial shortages. By the time the year was up, the private industry had realized what value lay in the Jaeger program, and the funding countries had been more than happy to sell the technologies to ascending Jaeger companies. One of them had been founded by Liwen Shao, daughter of a Chinese J-Tech from the Hong Kong Shatterdome. She had a knack for trading and recognizing economic trends, and a disarming charm. It was only a question of time until the two most important women in the Jaeger commerce would work together.

Liwen extended her hand and her expression softened. “I’ve heard about your co-pilot’s recent passing and I’m very sorry about. I, too, admired Mr Becket who had been an extraordinary Ranger.” Mako’s right eye twitched when Liwen mentioned Raleigh but otherwise she showed no emotional reaction.

Raleigh was the latest victim of the Jaeger program and never had there been enough time to mourn the dead. After the closing of the breach, the crews hadn’t been able to recover any bodies, and the ones of the Kaidanovskys and the Weis were also never found. They held a short memorial service a week after Pitfall but beside this mutual effort everyone was left to their own devices. Mako’s way of handling with the loss of her sensei and her childhood friend was throwing herself into work. Raleigh had always been worried about Mako’s state of mental health but she had never been able to express her feelings. And then Raleigh’s own health had started to decline and he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the tribute of his service for the PPDC and the aftermath of finishing two missions alone. A week ago, after only a day in hospital treatment, Raleigh had closed his eyes forever. That made Mako the last woman standing. Herc had ended his own life right after the negotiations between the U.N. and the private sector were successful. He hadn’t been able to cope with the loss of his wife, his son, and his longest friend at the PPDC, and the feelings of guilt that haunted him as the survivor. Herc’s passing happened right in the beginnings of transforming the Shatterdome from a governmental into a private organization, and this undertaking had taken too much of her vigilance to leave any time for grief.  
 So when, after the sell-out of the Hong Kong Shatterdome was done, Liwen Shao’s offer came Mako accepted it gladly as it provided once again distraction from the shatters that were her personal life.

“Your condolence is much appreciated, Miss Shao. The work at Shao corporations would surely help me deal with his passing.” The shift in Mako’s stance was diminutive but Liwen still noticed how her shoulders relaxed. She came a few steps closer but still kept a respectful distance.

“Miss Mori, would you like a tea or do you want to go on a tour through the corporation with me?” She smiled, encouraging Mako to do the same, but even though Mako didn’t feel intimidated anymore she wasn’t ready to smile.

“A tour through the company would be surely enlightening” Mako said.

Liwen indicated a door at the right side of the office which granted access to her personal lift. It was wainscoted with polished oak wood. Mako raised an eyebrow in appreciation. “The first stop will be our K-Science-Department. Kaijus are certainly captivating creatures. From a scientific point of view of course" Liwen explained.

Mako allowed herself a little huff. “Of course.”

The doors opened and revealed a wide circular room covered in gleaming metal and lit by a hundred neon lights. At more than a dozen surgeons’ desks about fifty people worked at peculiar looking organic structures. Cabinets with similarly strange samples lined the wall at the opposite end, and in front of it stood a short man in an expensive maroon suit with neatly combed black hair. The business-like impression was disrupted by the rolled-up sleeves and the bold and colourful tattoos that covered his exposed arms.

“Dr Geiszler! Would you like to explain your department to our guest?”Liwen called across the room. Newton turned, and Mako noticed that his glasses were missing. His face lit up when he recognized the guest.

“Mako? What a nice surprise!” He hurried towards his boss and his old comrade.

“Newt, it’s wonderful to see that you can finally pursue your passion in an extend you always dreamt of.”

“Mako, Mako, ever so articulate.” He held out his hand, and after a moment of consideration Mako grabbed it with both hands, clinging to it when a wave of desperation and sadness swept through her. Newt, who had noticed it, looked immediately worried. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and took a deep breath to steady herself. “Yes, I’m well, no need to worry.”

Newt and Liwen exchanged a glance and both knew that Mako didn’t want to talk about it until she was eventually ready for it.

“Yeah, Mako, you’re totally right. This is the perfect place for me, it’s like a giant play room” Newt said to relieve the situation, picking up at Mako’s remark before her short breakdown. “Let me show you around.”

“Very well, I will meet you for tea in my office in an hour. Dr Geiszler, could you spare some of your precious time as well?”

“Yes, Miss Shao, it’s lunchtime soon anyway.”

In Newt’s company, Mako forgot about the burdens of the past for a while. The Kaiju enthusiast had left the Shatterdome two weeks after Pitfall whereas Dr Gottlieb had stayed with the PPDC until Herc’s death. Then he had gone back to his alma mater. Newt had written a book about his Kaiju research at the Shatterdomes and people flocked to the bookshops the moment it was released. It earned him a little fortune that lasted well until Liwen Shao offered him the position as Head of K-Science-Department at Shao Corporations. He accepted when he saw his lab and the amount of money he was granted for his studies.

***

After Newt had left their lunch date, Mako saw the opportunity to apologize. “Miss Shao, I’m very sorry about my emotional outburst at the Science Department earlier. I promise it’s not going to happen again.”

Liwen laughed and took her hands. “Miss Mori, you have nothing to apologize for. Life hasn’t been kind to you and still you manage it every day. This is something you should be proud of but don’t strain yourself too much. You are not a robot. Give yourself a rest every once in a while. If you need someone to talk to, you can always come to me. My personal quarters are on the floor above us.”

For the first time in years, Mako blushed in embarrassment. She coughed before she answered Liwen. “Thank you, Miss Shao. I expected our relationship to be solely professional.”

“Let me put it this way: you are too interesting a person to only rely on your workforce. If you want to, you can call me Liwen. And if you want to talk to Dr Geiszler instead of me, here is his address.” Liwen gave her a card with extra information scribbled on it.

“Oh, thanks, but Newt already offered this. And concerning the informality: I am Mako.”

Liwen smiled. “Very well. Then I’d say we’re done for today. I heard you only moved into your Beijing residence yesterday so I assume you want to get more familiar with it. I will see you tomorrow at nine here in my office when we will meet with the retiring Head of Technology and Development.”

***

It was late in the evening, darkness had already descended, when Mako wandered through the streets of Beijing looking for Newt’s apartment building. She hadn’t been happy at all that Liwen Shao had dismissed her so early. She really didn’t want to go back to her new flat because everything was bleak and empty and she would be alone. But she was never one to complain so she had left the company building as Liwen expected her to do. In her new home she then sat in the Spartan kitchen staring at the table and trying to ignore the memories that had flooded back into her mind when she had met Newt.

It took her an hour, a detour of a mile, and a run-in with some shady looking youngsters before she found Newt’s apartment complex. When she wanted to ring an elderly man exited the building and she slipped through the open door after him. Newt lived on the twelfth floor so she took the lift. Anyone watching her on the corridor would have a laughing fit right there. For every step forward she took two back, hesitated, then turned back to the lift, all the while muttering contemplatingly to herself. At last, she stood in front of his apartment door and knocked. She took a deep breath when Newt opened the door.

“Mako?” He sounded utterly astounded. Then he realized that he stood shirtless before her. The blush tinted his face red to the roots. From his waistband up to his beard there was not a batch of bare skin, instead it was all covered in bright and vivid tattoos.

“Hi Newt, I would like to accept your invitation for dinner tonight.”

“Er, okay, yeah. Come in.” He led the way to the kitchen and Mako couldn’t help but admire his finally finished backpiece of Slattern, Scunner and Raiju. When she discovered portraits of Stacker and Chuck peeking out from his shorts, she swallowed and quickly looked back up at the beasts that they both helped to destroy all those years ago.

“I see that you managed to find the time to get that tattoo you always wanted to have. It probably wasn’t a matter of money after the publication of your book.”

“Yup, I got it done half a year ago. Zhang Hong Mei did an amazing job; no wonder, she’s the best artist in Beijing.”

“I appreciate it, too, even though it depicts the most hazardous creatures on the planet.”

“Well, they were 2500 pounds of awesome...or awful, whatever you wanna call it.” Newt grinned but Mako also saw the melancholy in his face. She recalled his first meeting with Raleigh as easily as he did.

Mako’s shoulders started to shake. “I just miss him so much, you know? Every day, I wake with the warm feeling that I will meet him at the breakfast table. But then it hits me like a truck that I won’t. That, that he’s just not there anymore.” She grabbed hold of the table to keep herself from collapsing. Newt jumped to her side and cradled her into his arms. He was struggling to carry her to the couch, and it was such difference to her strong and broad-shouldered best friend that it made her cry even more.

“Ssh,” Newt whispered and kissed the crown of her head. “It’s so dreadful that he’s gone; damn, now I’m starting to cry, too” he said and wiped at his eyes.

“You and crying? You’re the coolest dude I know. Cool dudes never cry” Mako replied, still crying but her voice was cracking into a laugh.

“Man, I take this as a compliment but you’re wrong. Cool dudes can cry.” He was interrupted by his grumbling stomach. “That reminds me of my invitation. What do you want to have for dinner?” Newt reached for the phone in his pocket and typed in the access code. Mako turned in his lap and looked up.

“What do you need that phone for? I thought we would be cooking together?”

He waved. “On another evening maybe. Tonight I want you to try one of the best things in Beijing. There’s this app that brings plain fare from reputable Chinese moms right to your door. I don’t know if I had survived my time here without it.” He scrolled through the options. “What do you think of octopus in garlic leaves, hot tofu stripes, and as dessert sweet sesame balls?”

Mako had changed positions by now and was facing him on the couch, legs drawn up under her. “I still think that you should have shown me your brilliant cooking skills.”

He snorted. “Trust me, you don’t want to if you don’t want to spend your evening over the toilet bowl.”

She tilted her head. “Nah, it can’t be that bad.”

He only gave her a raised eyebrow. “We will eat Mrs Dja’s most delicious comfort food and that’s it. You’re in my house, after all. I decide.” He pressed another button and looked at her sternly. It only made her laugh.

“What other option do I have, then?” 

Newt pointed at her. “Exactly.” Then he got up and sauntered through the living room to a door opposite the kitchen isle. He disappeared for a moment and came back dressed in a simple white tee-shirt. Mako followed him to the kitchen isle and she sat down while he poured them some tea. She took a sip and immediately pouted.

“What is _that_?”

Newt grinned. “My special mixture. Oolong tea and whiskey.”

“Goodness gracious! You can drink that if you want, I prefer pure tea. Would you be so kind to serve me some?”

Newt dissolved into laughter when he saw her indignant face. It made her look so young and childlike, an expression he hadn’t seen on her in nearly a decade. He poured her a fresh cup from another pot and sat down as well. “So, tell me, what did you and Liwen Shao talk about after I was gone?”

Mako went red. “Nothing much, actually. I only expressed my apologies for my breakdown and she told me not to worry about.”

Newt rolled his eyes. “As if there was anything to apologize for.” Then he eyed her carefully. “You like her, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t be so embarrassed.”

“Well, she’s my boss, and my behaviour surely didn’t leave the best first impression.”

Newt took her hand. “Mako, god, relax for a minute.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Relaxation hasn’t brought me to where I am now. If I fail this, I don’t know what I’m going to do after it. I don’t know anything else.”

“I’m not telling you to not do your best. But you’ve been through so much in your young life. How old are you anyway?”

She pursed her lips. “25” she mumbled.

“Damn, I feel so old right now. Anyway. Did you have any friends in the time after I’ve left the Shatterdome? Beside Raleigh and Herc.” When he mentioned them, he looked up to the ceiling and nodded.

Mako felt caught. Newt hadn’t seen her in three years, and even when they both had been at the Shatterdome they didn’t have much in common. Still, he managed to immediately grasp her life situation. When she looked at him again after staring at the table at length she was surprised by his sheepish expression.

“Don’t you think I feel the same? I have lots of employees under me but none of them is a friend of mine. They’re all just co-workers. I’ve missed a familiar face in here. You can’t imagine how happy I was when Liwen brought you into the lab today.”

Mako considered this for a moment, then took his hands. “Okay, let’s make a deal. For tonight, we don’t do much talking anymore. Let us watch a movie, a sappy rom com for all I care. I’ve seen enough monsters in the past years. Tomorrow, we’re going to have lunch together. I will answer all your questions when you answer mine. What do you think?”

He smiled and shook her hands. “Deal. Though you have no idea what you let yourself in for.”

Now it was her turn to grin. “You are a _Kaiju scientist_. You probably belong to the most curious species of human beings there is. Of course I know how nosy you’re going to be.”

“Touché.” Newt beamed. Then the door bell rang. “Okay, no more inquisitive questions for tonight.”

***

“Mako! I’m surprised to see you here but I’m also delighted. How can I help you?” Liwen got up from her swivel chair when Mako entered her office three months after her first day at work.

“I wanted to bring you our newest blueprints for the Jaeger Saber Athena. I think they’re to your liking.” Mako walked over to Liwen’s desk and handed her the drafting.

“Thank you.” Their hands brushed against each other when Liwen took them. Mako flushed at the unexpected touch and Liwen gave her a sweet yet a tiny bit seductive smile. “I can tell at first glance that they are professionally crafted. Athena is going to be the perfect Jaeger.”

“No Jaeger is perfect. They all have their strengths and weaknesses but as a team they are going to be incredible.”

“I enjoy hearing your enthusiasm. Does that mean you found a new matter close to your heart?"

Mako smiled shyly. “I think so, Liwen. I thought that working on Jaegers was going to remind me of some, uh, darker times in my life. But instead it just rekindled my passion for it. To be honest, it is just what I needed.”

Liwen opened her arms. “Brilliant! Why don’t we celebrate this stage victory with a little something?” She walked over to a cabinet and retrieved a bottle of champagne and two tulip glasses.

“Er, isn’t that a little too early. It might be a bad omen.” Mako wasn’t sure why she said this as she’d never been a superstitious person.

“Please, Mako, don’t be ridiculous. And I didn’t as much talk about the blueprints but your reawakened fervour.”

By now, Liwen was at Mako’s side to raise her glass. When Liwen put her arm around her, Mako’s neck started to tingle. She accepted the glass Liwen was offering her and took a sip to calm her nerves. The two women looked at each other. For a moment, time seemed to stand still as Mako saw straight into Liwen’s chocolate brown eyes. “Liwen”, she croaked.

Liwen raised her finger to hush her. She tilted her head and brought their faces closer to each other. But she waited until Mako raised herself on tiptoes to close the gap. The kiss that followed was soft and long. A fluttery feeling built in Mako’s stomach and she pulled Liwen a little closer to her.

When they parted, Mako let out a deep breath but she smiled from ear to ear. Liwen allowed herself a self-satisfied grin before she burst out into relieved giggles. “Mako, I wanted to do this from the moment I saw you. But I knew that I couldn’t push you. Not after what had happened to you.”

Mako took Liwen’s hand and noticed that it was shaking. “The time was necessary, yes, because even though I felt that there was something special between us, I needed time to sort my feelings out. But now I’m pretty sure about them.” She smiled even wider, if that was possible, and raised Liwen’s hand to kiss her knuckles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, softjohn, for making me a Mawen shipper ;)


End file.
